Contempt Citation Avoided by Sheriff : But Judge Warns Gates on Failure to Meet His Jail-Population Ceiling

The Los Angeles federal judge who has forced vast improvements in Orange County’s jail facilities over the last year backed off Thursday on his threat to hold Sheriff Brad Gates in contempt for violating an order to ease overcrowding at the main jail.

But with Gates sitting just 20 feet away in a Santa Ana courtroom, U.S. District Judge William P. Gray warned that if Gates fails in the future to meet the 1,500-inmate ceiling, “a more severe penalty can be expected.”

“Once the population of the (men’s) jail reaches 1,500, the door leading from intake to housing should be closed and a ‘no vacancy’ sign hung on it,” Gray said. “If the fifteen-hundred-and-first inmate comes through, and all the other (branch jail) facilities are filled to capacity, then somebody is going to have to be released, or you might have to get a couple of deputies to take the inmate to a hotel to house him.”

Later, Gray denied the sheriff’s request to postpone an order that the men’s jail population be reduced even further, to 1,400, by April 1.

Efforts Cited

Gray said he recognized that the sheriff and the Board of Supervisors have shown good-faith efforts to improve jail facilities during the past year. If Gates returned with a good explanation of why he could not meet the 1,400-inmate ceiling, Gray said, he “might be cooperative.”

Gates’ jail staff had managed to satisfy the 1,500-inmate limit at the main men’s jail for a few weeks after the order took effect Jan. 15. But a court-appointed special master, Lawrence G. Grossman, reported that the inmate count went above 1,500 during three separate days in February. The highest was 1,537 inmates on Feb. 23.

Gates had managed to reduce the jail population below the 1,500 limit by midnight on each of the three days in February.

Gray called Gates into court Thursday so the sheriff could explain why he should not be cited for contempt in failing to comply with the January order. The judge seemed satisfied with Gates’ explanation.

Penalty Not Specified

Judge Gray had never specified what penalty he would impose for being held in comtempt of court.

In documents submitted Thursday and in a private session in Judge Gray’s chambers, Gates argued that he thought he had complied with the court’s order when he had lowered the jail population by midnight on those days.

Gray said in court Thursday that his first order may not have been clear but added that no one should misinterpret the order now: No more than 1,500 at anytime, and no more than 1,400 at anytime after April 1.

Gray also warned that “I’m going to keep pushing until a final solution is accomplished. Even if someone is guilty of a crime, the county must assume the cost and obligation of a confinement fit for a human being.”

Faced with a possible contempt citation from the judge, Gates held a news conference two weeks ago to plead for more jail facilities. The Board of Supervisors followed that up Tuesday with a decision to build a $138-million maximum security jail, to hold up to 1,500 inmates, at Douglass Road and Katella Avenue in Anaheim, just half a mile from Anaheim Stadium.

On Thursday, Judge Gray toured additions to the Theo Lacy facility in Orange, which should give the county 180 extra beds this month, and the James A. Musick branch jail near El Toro, which got 400 additional beds in January. The judge also received an update on the supervisors’ actions.

‘Lot to Be Done’

“There’s a lot yet to be done, but I think we’re moving in the right direction, and that’s encouraging,” the judge said in chambers following the hearing.

Gates said later in the hallway outside the courtroom that he does not know yet whether he can keep the inmate population at the men’s jail below 1,400 after April 1.

Gates repeatedly has said he cannot hang up a “no vacancy” sign as the judge suggested because state law requires him to accept prisoners brought to him by police agencies within the county jurisdiction.

“I asked the judge, which do I violate first (the judge’s order or state law), and the judge made it pretty clear I had better see to it I follow his order,” Gates said.

Gates is concerned about housing high-risk inmates at Lacy and said there may be times when he can’t send inmates to Lacy even if it has beds available.

Judge’s Comment

If Gates thinks he has to choose between complying with federal and state orders, Judge Gray said, “the matter ought to be called to my attention, and we’ll find some way to work it out.”

Gates said after the hearing that the lecture Judge Gray had delivered in court was “pretty much what we expected.”

“I think he has been very fair and patient, and I think he will keep the pressure on to make sure the county methodically keeps moving toward a solution to the problem,” Gates said.

It was one year ago this week that the 73-year-old senior judge first found Gates and the Board of Supervisors in contempt for failure to comply with his 7-year-old order to ease overcrowding at the men’s jail. He fined the county $50,000 and ordered officials to use the money to pay for the special master he appointed.

2,000 Inmates

When the American Civil Liberties Union brought the case to his attention last year, there were more than 2,000 inmates in the jail (which has an official capacity of 1,219), and more than 500 were forced to sleep on the floor because no beds were available.

Gray at first fined the county $10 for each inmate who had to sleep on the floor past the first 24 hours and by August had ordered that no inmates could sleep on the floor.

The county took several steps to comply: Temporary tents and then temporary modular units at Musick; speeding up the expansion of Lacy; an increase in the number of court investigators who could release inmates on their own recognizance, and keeping federal and state prisoners out of the jail. Even without the new maximum-security jail that the county supervisors agreed to build last week as an emergency measure, county financial analysts estimate the county will spend nearly $50 million on jail expansions.

Times staff writers Mark Landsbaum and John Needham contributed to this story.